New Delhi (dpa) - The Nuclear Suppliers Group's decision to allow trade in fissile materials and technology with India ending a 34-year ban is an acknowledgement of India's position as a responsible nuclear weapons state and would boost the global nuclear industry, officials and analysts said Sunday.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a body that controls all international trade in fissile materials, was formed as a reaction to India's nuclear test in 1974.
On Saturday, in Vienna, after three days of hard debate, the 45- member group decided to make an exception to its 1992 guidelines and allow trade with a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty with the capacity to produce nuclear bombs.
Berlin - Germany's ailing Social Democratic Party (SPD) rung the changes Sunday, repositioning itself ahead of a general election just 12 months away by nominating charismatic Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to take on the popular Christian Democrat (CDU) chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The SPD leadership also recalled a 68-year-old veteran to reorganize the demoralized party machine in the shape of Franz Muentefering, who is to replace Kurt Beck, the embattled premier of Rhineland-Palatinate, as SPD federal chairman.
While Steinmeier's nomination as chancellor-candidate ahead of Beck had long been anticipated, Muentefering's return to top-level SPD politics came as a bombshell.
Hong Kong - A key election in Hong Kong was shunned by a majority of voters Sunday despite expectations that the "Olympics factor" would rally support for China-friendly parties.
Only around four in 10 registered voters had cast their ballots one hour before polls closed in the legislative council election in the only city in China where people can chose some of their elected representatives.
The turnout is predicted to be at least 10 per cent below the 55 per cent of 3.3 million registered voters who cast their ballots in the last legislative council elections in Hong Kong four years ago.
Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday congratulated Asif Ali Zardari on winning Pakistan's presidential election and promised that China would maintain its "all-weather friendship" with its neighbour and long-term ally.
"China and Pakistan are friendly neighbours that are joined by common mountains and rivers, and the peoples of the two countries have developed an all-weather friendship," the government's Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying in a message of congratulation to Zardari.
"In the new historical period, China is willing to join hands with Pakistan to carry forward the traditional friendship," Hu said.
Johannesburg/Luanda - Angola's ruling MPLA party was heading for a massive victory in the country's first parliamentary elections in 16 years, with initial projections by the country's electoral commission showing the party claiming more than 80 per cent of the vote, reports said Sunday.
Although the opposition UNITA party has already begun to dispute the results of the two-day vote due to problems during the polling, independent observers such as those from the European Union spoke only of poor preparation that affected some parts of the capital Luanda.
Johannesburg/Luanda - Angola's ruling MPLA party was heading for a massive victory in the country's first parliamentary elections in 16 years, with initial projections by the country's electoral commission showing the party claiming more than 80 per cent of the vote, reports said Sunday.
